Parish economy strong despite crisis

“Patience is a virtue,” grandma used to say.

Today, local economists and financial advisors are beating on grandma’s drum.

The recent volatility on Wall Street has many residents in angst over St. Tammany’s local economy.

Rumors have even circulated of people drawing their funds from banks and other financial institutions with fears of massive bank closures as was seen during the Great Depression.

Not so fast.

“Our local economy here is overall very strong,” Aaron Ogea, financial advisor with investment guru Edward Jones said. “I’ve been telling my clients to close their ears and open their eyes.”

That’s an understatement.

Whether it’s the $30 million U.S. Highway 190 widening project in Mandeville, the nearly $30 million Fremaux Avenue interchange project in Slidell, the $1 billion Fremaux Summit project in Slidell, or the new Covington shopping center under development, it’s impossible to miss the new developments occurring across the parish.

Even with the millions of dollars worth of new construction underway, local economists say many residents are still up in arms over the dramatic rise and fall of the stock market and the effect it’s having on the Northshore economy.

“People right now are panicking,” associate professor of finance Danielle Lewis at Southeastern Louisiana University said.

“Our local economy is strong and our unemployment rate is quite low,” which is why Lewis, Ogea and many others are urging residents to be calm and remain patient.

Ironically, our strong economy is the offspring of Hurricane Katrina, Lewis said.

“In some cases, Katrina kind of saved us. We had a big building boom because of it,” she said.

Thanks to the influx of many residents relocating to the Northshore, St. Tammany has become one of Louisiana’s fastest growing parishes.

The housing market blossomed after the storm with dozens of new subdivisions springing up across the parish.

That influx has driven more retail and corporate entities to St. Tammany, Communications Director for the St. Tammany Economic Development Foundation James Hartman said.

Some major corporate players who’ve already staked claims in St. Tammany include oil industry companies Chevron, LLOG Exploration, ATS Inc. and Hornbeck Offshore Services, which have brought in a total of 600 jobs to the parish.

The newest member of Tammany’s top titans is Rooms To Go, currently preparing the 65-acre site in Pearl River where their 20-acre, 900,000-square-foot distribution center will sit. The $45-million building will become the largest structure in St. Tammany, and likely one of the largest structures in the south.

It will also employ nearly 400 people, which land developers have already keyed in on, preparing multiple sites in the tiny town for large subdivisions.

Besides the corporate world, Hartman said the retail, service and health industry are all very strong. All those jobs has St. Tammany’s unemployment rate near 3 percent, one of the best rates in the state and even the country, Hartman said.

“People need to not panic because St. Tammany will weather the economic storm,” Hartman said, crediting the parish’s diverse economy. “The key to surviving it and thriving in it is to remain calm.”

Even with the national housing market meltdown, St. Tammany’s housing economy, although temporarily slowed, is still strong.

With supply exceeding demand, most realtors are labeling it a buyer’s market making more home prices negotiable, therefore more affordable to first-time buyers.

Economists agree, more businesses, more subdivisions equate to more people and more people means more money for an already growing economy.